Snapper

I hope you find this fish info helpful on Charter Fishing on the Gulf Of Mexico out of Madeira Beach Florida.   Please call me if there are any other questions I can discuss with you.

Captain Bob Poteshman  773-682-1888

The Snapper Family (typically caught species)

Red Snapper: Lutjanus campechanus

Appearance:

  • Color pinkish red over entire body, whitish below
  • Long triangular snout
  • Anal fin is sharply pointed
  • No dark lateral spot
  • Red eye

Additional Information

State Record: 46 lb 8 oz, caught near Destin

Fishing Tips and Facts: Snappers will take soft-bodied jigs, bucktails and spoons.

Adult red snapper may live more than 20 years and attain 35 pounds or more.

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Grunts (Grey Snapperlike Fish): Haemulon plumieri

grunt

Appearance:

Body color light bluish-gray, head with horizontal blue stripes, white underbelly; black blotch on preopercle; margin of each scale bronze; large bright orange mouth; scales above lateral line larger than scales below lateral line.

Behavior:

Audible grunting is produced by grinding of the pharyngeal teeth, with air bladder acting as amplifyer; spawning occurs on OFFSHORE hard bottoms or reefs from May through June; feeds on crustaceans, mollusks and small fishes.

State Record: 15 lb 8 oz, caught near Key West

Size: most catches 1.5 pounds (15 inches).

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Lane Snapper: Lutjanus synagris

lanesnapper

Appearance:

  • Color silvery-pink to reddish with short, irregular pink and yellow lines on its sides
  • Diffuse black spot, about as large as the eye
  • The dorsal fin centered above the lateral line
  • The outer margin of caudal fin blackish

Additional Information

State Record: 6 lb 6 oz, caught near Pensacola

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Vermilion Snapper: Rhomboplites aurorubens

vermi

Appearance:

color of entire body reddish, with a series of short, irregular lines on its sides, diagonal blue lines formed by spots on the scales above the lateral line; sometimes with yellow streaks below the lateral line; large canine teeth absent; orientation of mouth and eye give it the appearance of looking upward; no dark lateral spot.

Additional Information

State Record: This species is not currently eligible for a state record. 

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Mutton Snapper: Lutjanus analis

mutton

Appearance:

  • Color olive green on back and upper sides
  • All fins below the lateral line having reddish tinge
  • Bright blue line below eye, following contour of operculum
  • Anal fin pointed
  • Small black spot below dorsal fin

Additional Information

State Record: 30 lb 4 oz, caught near the Dry Tortugas 

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Yellowtail Snapper: Ocyurus chrysurus

yellow

Appearance:

back and upper sides olive to bluish with yellow spots; lower sides and belly with alternating narrow, longitudinal pink and yellow stripes; prominent midlateral yellow stripe begins at mouth and runs to tail, broadening as it passes the dorsal fins; caudal fin yellow and deeply forked; no dark lateral spot..

Additional Information

State Record: 8 lb 9 oz, caught near Ft. Myers

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Mangrove (Mangoes) / Gray Snapper:

Appearance:

  • Dark brown or gray with reddish or orange spots in rows along the sides
  • A dark horizontal band from snout through eye is present in young only
  • Two conspicuous canine teeth are present at front of upper jaw
  • Dorsal fins have dark or reddish borders
  • No dark spot is present on side underneath dorsal fin

Additional Information

Gray snapper caught offshore are common 8 to 10 pounds.

 

 

 

Thank you…Capt. Bob Poteshman